San Diego CityBeat - Arts & Culture featurehttp://www.sdcitybeat.com/sandiego/articles.sec-116-1-arts-culture-feature.html
Gaidi Finnie’s the chief operating officer at Bayview Baptist Church, but he has a long background in the arts. He spent a few years at a fine-art gallery in La Jolla before moving to the Museum of Photographic Arts, where he eventually became the director. ]]>Hatsune Miku, a so-called "vocaloid"—a character that personifies vocal-singing synthesizer software—isn’t just a representation of one person or even the company, Crypton Future Media, that created her. She’s a product of the many people—artists, musicians and other creative fans—who’ve given her a persona.]]>It seems to be an exciting time for the San Diego standup and improv scene. Egan points out that when he first started, there was only one major comedy club and maybe a few coffeehouse open-mics that welcomed comedians.]]>Death café, according to deathcafe.com, is a “discussion group where the only topic is death; no agenda, objectives or themes. It is not a grief support or counseling session. At a Death Café, people, often strangers, gather to eat cake, drink tea and discuss death.”]]>Last week, dozens of people lined up outside the University Art Gallery at UCSD. Some might’ve been there to experience Marina Abramović’s rough draft of an audio installation she created with science-fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson.]]>Greenfield hasn’t showered since April 20, 2013—he doesn’t want to waste water, so he swims in the ocean instead. He’s almost always barefoot and often clad in outdoor clothing by Patagonia, a company that’s considered a leader in the environmental movement.]]>After the announcement last March that Balboa Park Celebration Inc. (BPCI), the nonprofit group charged with organizing the centennial, was disbanding and handing the reins to the city after burning through millions of dollars without producing tangible results, Mayor Kevin Faulconer and City Councilmember Todd Gloria introduced plans for a scaled-down event.]]>For this look back at the most compelling art and exhibitions in San Diego during the last year, I asked a handful of artists, curators and critics to do most of the heavy lifting. But I couldn’t help but jam in a few of my own shout-outs, too.]]>Five men from the Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas (FORBS) recently set out on an important mission: Find the best location in San Diego for hosting their trade association’s 22nd Annual Santa Reunion.]]>Nianda and Boyer have been screening The Nigga Project Experience and hosting community discussions at barbecue restaurants, hair salons, libraries and community centers throughout southeastern San Diego since the beginning of 2014.]]>Dana Springs, who twice in the past few years stepped out of her 12-year role as manager of the commission’s public-art program to serve as the commission’s interim director, was officially named the executive director in August.]]>CityBeat staff recommends its current media obsessions, including pop culture, podcasts, books, web series, and apps.]]>Diana Duval’s eccentricities abound. She embodies her art and wears only red and black—mostly clothes and quirky hats she designs and fabricates herself. ]]>

In the basement of a former maternity hospital that’s now a spacious live/ work studio situated in a Tijuana hillside neighborhood, artists César Vázquez and Claudia Ramírez Martínez carefully scrape away excess clay.

]]>Who has the time or motivation to seek out those rare, esoteric or obscure picks? As a product of Internet culture, if a movie’s not readily available with a click of a button (or a nesting in the trusty Redbox a block away), chances are I’m not going to go looking for it. ]]>The Historical Association lives on, collecting, preserving and sharing more than 160 years of SDPD memorabilia through its museum and extensive website.]]>

Geoffrey Cunningham saw the Oceanside Museum of Art’s “Exploring Engagement” artists-in-residence series as an opportunity to finally interact with the military men and women he sees every day.

]]>Parklets are loosely defined as small, outdoor seating areas that often take over one or two existing parking spots, temporarily reclaiming the space for pedestrians and improving the aesthetics and streetscape of the urban environment.]]>

One of the largest Chicano arts centers in the Southwest, the Centro Cultural de la Raza, housed in a former water tank in Balboa Park, once attracted international attention for its edgy programming and enjoyed financial support from heavy hitters like the National Endowment for the Arts.

]]>Richard Allen Morris’ art has always been partly influenced by the size of the studio space he could afford in and around downtown San Diego, which is where he’s lived and worked since being discharged from the Navy in 1956. ]]>